College of Engineering professor Charles Delisi is a finalist for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s chancellorship, Wisconsin-Milwaukee chancellor search committee Chairman William Holahan said Wednesday.
The search comes as Wisconsin-Milwaukee heads into “growth mode,” said Holahan, who is also chair of the school’s economics department.
Holahan said the university has been looking to fill the position since August 2003. The Board of Regents, the University of Wisconsin system’s overseeing board, will pick one of the candidates at a meeting on March 5.
In an email, Delisi, who is also the initiator of the Human Genome Project andthe senior associate provost for biosciences at BU, said he has had no previous connection to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and did not apply, but was nominated for the position. Delisi declined to comment further on his candidacy.
Holahan said the position is very similar to that of president at BU, and whoever is chosen would act as chief executive officer for the university. He said Delisi embodies what Wisconsin-Milwaukee wants from a chancellor.
“A person like Dr. Delisi is the kind of leader that we seek,” he said. “He knows how to be a catalyst for the kind of dramatic increase in research activity and funding that is our ambition.”
The position carries with it a salary “in the 200s,” Holahan said, though the figure is negotiable. Former BU President-elect Daniel Goldin would have made more than $750,000 per year, not including other fringe benefits.
“There are a variety of different ‘enhancements’ that will significantly increase [the salary],” he said. “We expect to be competitive.”
The other candidates include the president of Eastern Michigan University, the vice president of academic affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University and the VP of academic affairs at the University at Albany, according to a Wisconsin-Milwaukee press release.
Holahan said he is unsure of specifically how Delisi made it to the shortlist. There were originally five finalists, Holahan said, but one took a position elsewhere.
“I don’t know how he ended up in our pool,” he said. “We have advertising out, we have word of mouth and the scientific community certainly knows about him. He is one of the top scientists in the community.”
The committee that helped choose Delisi as a candidate included faculty, administrators, students and several prominent Milwaukee-area community members, Holahan said. The 27-person committee was the “largest search and screen committee in the history of the [University of Wisconsin] system,” he said.
Chicago-based A.T. Kearney, the same firm helping the BU Board of Trustees look at its own governance issues, helped Wisconsin-Milwaukee with the search.
Delisi is a “very exciting choice,” Holahan said, adding that the BU professor could help foster growth in the industrial research sector.
“We are behind in [21st century industry],” he said, “and yet we have major research entities in the state of Wisconsin, such as the Medical College of Wisconsin, as well as the UW Medical School. A lot of biotech firms have established themselves in the Madison area and the Milwaukee area.”
The school is looking for its next chancellor to help build the university over the next few years, Holahan said. He compared the 2003 Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus to the BU campus in the 1970s.
“Boston University is a fabulous place now,” he said. “Thirty-four years ago, it was in trouble. We intend to be emulating that type of fantastic growth and the next chancellor will be our leader in that.”
Delisi will meet with some Wisconsin-Milwaukee administrators, faculty and students on Feb. 25 and 26 in a series of on-campus interviews, according to the chancellor search’s website.
BU Provost Dennis Berkey declined to comment on Delisi’s candidacy because Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s search is ongoing.